tour of my desktop carousel

yesterday, i was working on some projects out in another room. and after i was done, i was putting my tools and adhesives back in my scraproom. and as i put them in their spots in my making memories carousel, i thought about how much i love that thing. 

so i thought it might be fun to show you what i keep in mine and how i use it. i've heard from some people, that they think it takes up so much space on the desktop. but i have a pretty small desk now. and i have two of these up there. i measured this, and it requires about 13 inches of space to spin around without knocking anything. i love having my most used stuff within arms reach. i just spin until i get what i need. shall we take a spin and see what's in there ;)

glitter glue, diamond glaze, glue lines, ki gloo. basically, my wet adhesives that i use all the time. not sure about that blue tube of adhesive. i'm thinking that might be dried out by now.

three of these top compartments, actually have 2 seperate spots in them. which is nice, since things don't get lost as easily or mixed together. these are my main scissors. the blue ones are creative memories ones, that i've had forever. then a scalloped scissor. some staples, and more adhesive.

glue dots, glue dots, and more glue dots. i'm completely addicted to glue dots and i fully admit that :)

some more scissors and a few exacto knives. sandpaper and paintbrushes. my most  used pens for journaling and a pencil for tracing. i hate writing in pencil and only do it when needed.

more adhesives. i'm a serious adhesive junkie, and am always using about 13 different ones at a time. i actually have a bowl on my table that also holds more.

my favorite side. the tools. all kinds of them. my most often used from this area, are my paper piercers (for brads), my tweezers (for stickers), kraft knife (for opening things, not really for cutting), and the emery board (for sanding).

the middle of the carousel is deep, and can hold larger items. i keep my tag maker in there, and my tag curler. and a few of my rulers. i have a lot of rulers. just can't scrap without a few by my side.

onto the drawers. they're small, but make for nice little compartments. you can pull each one all the way out and move them around if you want. there's a little magnet on the back of each drawer, that helps hold it in place when it's all the way in. this one holds my needles, and some white thread. it's one color that i use a lot, so i have some close by for threading buttons. also a few extra trimmer blades. i have an older one that is marked with an "C", that i use for cutting chipboard, so that i don't wear down my good blade.

some tiny pencils. these are some that alyssa brought home from her grandma's house. they were from a beauty supply store that she works at. i like them because they have a very small, sharp tip. great for tracing templates or shapes, that i'm going to cut out. check out my high class eraser. i even taped it together at one point, because i loved it that much. it is awesome for removing pencil marks.

i use my creative memories circle cutter ALL the time. constantly. my three blades fit perfectly in this drawer. and i already have the caps off and popped onto the back. so they're ready to go, instead of fiddling with them all the time.

this drawer holds all the tips for my eyelet setters, my notch tool, and instant setter. and also my edge distresser. i have another one of those too, the MM one. i've been using those constantly lately.

binder clips. i do use these quite often. maybe not enough to have their own drawer. now that i have my embellishment shelf up (which i'll share next week), i might put those in a little jar. and find something else to go in here.

a drawer of safety pins. regular metal ones, and lots of cute colored ones. just like the clips, i'm not sure i use these enough to keep them in a drawer. those might get put in a jar too.

that's all of it. and this is going to sound totally crazy, but i'm going to say it anyways. when i scrap in the other room, i grab a few things at a time from the carousel and take them to where i'm working. i always forget a tool, or realize i need another adhesive. this happens about 9 times on every project i'm working on. then when i'm done, i go and carry everything back in and put it back in it's appropiate spot. i honestly never thought about this before, until i started typing this post. but i could just pick up the entire carousel and carry it out to where i'm working. and i'd have everything i could possibly need. hello laura! think a little, would you ;)

and just a quick peek at the carousel at the other end of my desk. i'm not walking you through this one though. it's mainly just random embellishments that i don't want to forget to use. or that i havn't put away yet. it also holds my tags, gems, mini rubons, etc. 

Comments

[Dorrit]

Thank you for that nice tour :D

[wendy myers]

Adhesive Junkie-That is an understatment! LOL
Thanks for the insight, I enjoy seeing how others organize. I must ask for one of those for Mother's Day! I think I would love it.
I use an Advantas All My Memories Tote now, which works good for me because I sometimes don't scrap at home and I can grab and go with this one.

Happy Thursday!

[Lynn]

Looks v.organised :)
I'd love one of those carousels. I have the Slice storage unit & it is great. The white wood is such a pretty finish.

[Mustangkayla]

I've debated over one of those. I currently have a carry case (its one from Michaels that holds all my tools, adhesive, pens, etc) and set it on a lazy susan. I go to a friends house often to scrap so have stuck with this since I can just grab my bag and go.

[Mustangkayla]

Oh, and I completely agree, well worth the space!

[Rhonda Steed]

oh I've wanted one for a WHILE! Looks awesome!!

[jen shears]

I've been thinking about one of these for awhile.... :)
Love the below post on the jewelry (catching up on blogs today!)- and those one-handed shots are AMAZING! Your necklaces are totally fun- going to check out Sierra's blog too! I recently made my first necklace (before this awesome MM stuff came out) and it was fun!
http://jenshearsdesigns.blogspot.com/2010/02/happy-birthday-tina.html
Have a fab day!

[Wendy Sue]

You are so organized...wanna come to my house and help me?!? :o)

[Jen]

Holy organized! Mine is a mess of ink and daubers and things that won't hurt the babes if theyy manage to wrap their sneaky hands one something. I love the idea of the second for embellies or letters.

[Suzanne]

You are very organized! I loved seeing what you store in yours! I have the pottery barn version, but think I might be wanting this!! LOL

[dawn]

I've always wanted one of those for my things too. I love how organized you have it. It's amazing how much stuff you can fit in there. This would make a great picture of the day for me of my little holder of most used items. Thanks for sharing. I have to say that I love creative memories scissors for everything and their cutters are right here by my side also.

[Laura T.]

Thanks for the tour ... my carousel looks more like your embellishment carousel, but yours looks more organized than mine.

[Carla]

Oh thanks girl! Its always fun to see peeks of your scrap space and I enjoyed the tour! Great idea for a blog entry...may have to lift yours. Mine is sort of similar.
You are too funny about grabbing one thing after an another instead of grabbing the whole car. And BTW "carousel" is such a hard word to spell too, right?

[krolski (kathy)]

Love this post. I have a MM carousel and keep it on my desk too. Love it!

[Penny]

Thanks for the tour! You've give me some great ideas. I also have two, plus one of the Target square ones, and I know they can be organized better. A good weekend project! Penny

[ruth]

i would so love to have 1 or 2 but my desk is very small and it occupies my epson photo printer and silhouette ~ the length of the desk, like i said...small desk area.

[Sara Rossi]

Man!! Looking at your carousel makes me think mine is empty! You really make good use of all the space! I would love to have 2 carousels on my desk...gotta work on that!!

[ShellyJ]

Very nice looking :)

[Yvonne]

Great Tour!!! I wondered how much they would hold. I'm currently using a pampered chef tool turn about, but we are redoing my room and i'm now going to get two of these! next week michaels has all scrapping storage 50% off! I've spent several days and coupons (and coupons, and took my best friend and my husband along to use them too!) at michaels this week getting the white storage blocks to build a unit. I can't wait! Thanks for the added inspiration.

[alicia king]

lol, I had the same blue tube of glue too! I *think* I threw mine out?! I have KI gloo as well, but I can't stand the smell, way too strong, gives me a headache every time!

[Carrie S.]

I have one of these, too! Thanks for all the excellent ideas! I love how you've utilized this awesome organizer.

[aby711]

Thanks Laura, I just bought this carousel tonight at local craft store. Nice to find an article on it so quickly!

[DEBBIE RAMSBOTTOM]

HI LAURA - I'M STARTING TO SET UP MY STAMP ROOM & I BOUGHT 2 OF THE MAKING MEMORIES CAROSEL AT MICHAELS. THEY HAD A BUY 1 AT REGULAR PRICE AND GET THE SECOND ITEM FOR 1CENT.

YOUR IDEAS WILL GET ME STARTED.

THANKS SO MUCH

DEBBIE RAMSBOTTOM

[Gina]

Hello, thanks for sharing your ideas.. I have been looking online for about an hour for a black one similiar to this and/or just a "kitchen tool" type lazy susan with a lot of areas like yours but cant find a thing. GRRRRRRRR!